Dungeon Monstres Vol. 3: Heartbreaker

Written by Joann Sfar and Lewis TrondheimArt by Carlos Nine and Patrice Killoffer96 pages, colorPublished by NBM

Joann Sfar and Lewis Trondheim’s sprawling series Dungeon has always been all over the map, especially with all of its different sub-series (The Early Years exploring the past, Zenith the present, and Twilight the future, plus Parade set in the early days of Zenith), but the easiest one to jump into in many ways is probably Monstres. That’s because each story just focuses on a different monster or beast, telling their particular story whenever it might take place. This new collection of two of the Monstres volumes from France is all over the place, not only in setting but art style and writing to boot.

The first half, Heartbreaker, is set during The Early Years timeframe, taking supporting character Alexandra and showing us just how this beautiful assassin’s mind truly functions. It’s a slightly unpleasant story, with her continued captures and tortures not being a light or happy tale by any stretch of the imagination. It’s drawn by Carlos Nine, and I wish that he’d had the time to paint the interior like he did the book’s stunning cover. The interiors aren’t bad, but his loose lines and sketchy character designs just can’t compare to the cover and all of its beauty. Nine drawing Heartbreaker is an inspired choice, though; Alexandra spends much of the comic drugged by her enemies, and this slightly blurry, loose style is a great match. Readers of The Early Years definitely shouldn’t skip this volume, though; it ties closely into the main narrative, and Sfar and Trondheim provide a big surprise for readers of that series at Heartbreaker‘s conclusion.

The second half, The Depths, is drawn by Patrice Killoffer, whose precise and smooth ink line is a dramatic contrast to Nine’s work. And while the first half was grim in a hazy sort of way, there’s no escaping the sheer nastiness of this story when Killoffer draws its events. This is easily the most (deliberately) vile and horrible story in the Dungeon milieu to date, as the poor underwater creature Drowny goes through all sorts of nasty situations in order to survive when the Great Khan’s armies invade. There’s a huge amount of detail packed into every single panel, but be warned that you might not want to look too closely. This story is designed to repulse its reader, and at that it succeeds mightily. Dungeon Monstres Vol. 3: Heartbreaker seems to see just how low it can go, and while I applaud it for succeeding, it’s the one Dungeon book I can’t see myself wanting to ever re-read.

4 comments to Dungeon Monstres Vol. 3: Heartbreaker

Great review! I’ve often wondered if anyone other than myself read the Dungeon series.

I look forward to reading the latest installment with trepidation. The series has taken a decidely darken turn lately and this sounds like the darkest of the bunch. I feel confident I will like it, but it’s probably a matter of how dirty I feel at the end.

Finally, I have always recommended new readers starting with Parade or Zenith. I felt the humor and light hearted nature was better at hooking new readers.

Yeah, considering the lightness in those original Zenith stories, the darker tint as of late has been a bit of a surprise — I guess that’s why Parade had to come into existence. (I am curious why NBM skipped several of the Monstres books in their publishing, though. Hopefully they’ll come back.) I do enjoy Dungeon a great deal, but there’s no doubt in my mind that this is a series that is reinventing itself as it moves forward.